Jfgrtert

Jfgrtert

  • Submitted By: jijinhun
  • Date Submitted: 03/12/2009 7:28 PM
  • Category: Religion
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The Book Review

“NOTHING LIKE IT IN THE WORLD”

(by Stephen Ambrose)

' Calvin Choi- AP US history- 6th ' Mr. Barton

' Olivia Trotter- AP US history- 6th -Mr. Cone

01/15/09

Summary of the subject matter

On May 10, 1869, the Golden Spike Linked the Central Pacific railroad with the Union Pacific railroad at Promontory Point, Utah. The dream of a railroad across America had at last come true. The Transcontinental railroad, which finally united the America to a one nation, was the toughest project in 1800s. However it was the great project that changed America like no development before it. For instance, the time of travel between New York and San Francisco was changed from three months by ships to eight days by train cars; goods from Asia and raw materials from the West were shipped to the East faster than ever. Author T.H. Watkins notes that “Once the rails were joined at Promontory, … we began for the first time, truly, to think of ourselves as a continental nation.”(Ambrose 125) The development of the transcontinental railroad greatly shaped the America today. The book “Nothing like it in the world” by Stephen Ambrose clearly depicts how and why the people tried so hard to connect the west and the east.

August 13, 1859 Council Bluffs, Iowa. Abraham Lincoln and Grenville Mellen Dodge met at Concert hall. They talked about the railroad that would eventually connect the Pacific and West. Lincoln was a great supporter of transcontinental railroad; he represented the Rock Island Bridge Company in the landmark case. Dodge, born in Massachusetts, suggested building the railroad on central route, “The northern route is longer than the southern, but of central position, it can be more readily defended in time of war; it can be more cheaply constructed; and, when built, will command and unite important and conflicting public and private interests.”(Ambrose 35) In spite of Panic of 1857, the growth of railroads in the United States had...